13 January 2017 | Tennis Queensland

Queensland’s highest ranked players Bernard Tomic and Sam Stosur have been seeded 27 and 18 respectively in the Australian Open 2017 which starts on Monday.

The two players will be looking to drastically improve on their start to the season, after they both lost in the first round of the Brisbane International last week.

In the men’s draw, Tomic features in the same quarter as fourth seed Stan Wawrinka (SUI), with Marin Cilic [8](CRO) a potential match up in R4. Tomic’s first round opponent is Thomaz Bellucci from Brazil, who is currently ranked 62 in the world.

Meanwhile, Stosur’s first round is against world no.75 Heather Watson from Great Britain. The two have met twice before, with Stosur winning both matches, most recently at the Canadian Masters last year 7-5 6-3. Stosur features in the same quarter of the draw as fifth seed Karolina Pliskova (CZE) who is in top form after winning Brisbane last week.

The third Queensland player with direct acceptance into the event is wildcard Lizette Cabrera. The 18-year-old meets fellow teenager Donna Vecik (CRO) in R1. Vekic lost first round of both Brisbane and Sydney, and is the girlfriend of Stan Warwinka.

For the full draw, click here.